Navy chief wants big lasers on warships ASAP
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The USS Portland test fires a laser weapon while in the Gulf of Aden. Photo: Donald Holbert/DVIDS
The chief of U.S. naval operations, Adm. Daryl Caudle, is advocating for powerful lasers aboard the newfangled Trump-class battleship, which is also expected to wield nuclear and hypersonic weapons.
Why it matters: Caudle has for years lamented a dearth of directed energy across the Navy. A new armed-to-the-teeth warship — pitched as the apex predator of the futuristic Golden Fleet — could offer a reversal of fortunes.
- "Now's the time," he told reporters at a breakfast on the sidelines of the Surface Navy Association conference, down the road from the Pentagon.
- "We're going to put a clear signal out there," he said. "This is my goal: If it's in line of sight of a ship, the first solution that we're using is directed energy."
State of play: Governments and scientists have for decades tinkered with these sci-fi-style armaments; the Pentagon just a few years ago was pouring into them $1 billion annually. But frontline adoption has been sluggish.
- A handful of lower-power Optical Dazzling Interdictor Navy systems were installed aboard Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers, according to Laser Wars. There's also the 60-kilowatt High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance on the USS Preble.
- "We've got to have different class lasers, I think, going forward on the battleship to make them effective," Caudle said.
Friction point: Trump-class battleships will be outfitted with 300- or 600-kilowatt lasers, according to specs published by the Navy. Such weapons are not readily available.
- The first battleship, if purchased today, could cost a little more than $20 billion, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis. Follow-on ships would cost less.
The bottom line: "I don't think a 1-megawatt laser is beyond what should be on that battleship," Caudle said. But, "I'll take what I can get."
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